The invention relates in general to room air conditioners, and is specifically directed to a grille structure for the indoor section of a window air conditioner unit.
Window type air conditioners typically have an indoor section and an outdoor section. The indoor section is responsible for cooling and dehumidifying the indoor room air while the outdoor section is responsible for exhausting heat into the outdoor environment. The indoor and outdoor sections each have a heat exchanger coil and a fan, and each has a return air opening and a discharge opening. A grille structure is normally installed over each section to prevent the entry of foreign objects, while allowing the free flow of air to and from the sections, as well as for aesthetic considerations. To accommodate easy access to the interior parts of the unit (for cleaning or maintenance) the indoor section grille is made to be removable. If the indoor grille is removable without the use of tools Underwriters Laboratories.RTM. requirement allow the information plate for the unit to be installed inside the unit behind the indoor grille. Typically screws, clips or similar fasteners are used to attach the grille to the housing for the indoor portion. However, such construction, which requires separate fastener parts makes construction of the unit somewhat difficult and requires undesirable process steps and parts inventory.
Additional parts also add cost and time to repair or maintenance procedures, and necessitate additional supply and inventory accounting.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,500 Grille Mounting For A Room Air Conditioner describes an improved grille arrangement for an air conditioner window unit. In the '500 Patent a one piece molded plastic grille is shown and described with recesses on the grille that engage flanges on the main air conditioner housing to permit the grille to be installed without separate fasteners.
Another window air conditioner unit is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,239 with a one piece grille for its indoor portion. In that case the grille is held in place with screws.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/027,029, filed on Mar. 5, 1993 entitled Grille Mount For A Room Air Conditioner now U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,842 discloses a unitary molded grille cover for the indoor side of a window type air conditioner. The grille cover is installed without tools or fasteners. A transverse flange on the grille cover top wall is positioned into a groove or slot on a discharge deck of the air conditioner, and the grille cover is snapped into place with the bottom wall thereof extending beneath the basepan of unit. Bosses on the basepan project into corresponding holes in the grille cover bottom wall to retain the grille cover in place.
It is an object of the present invention provide a room air conditioner front inlet grille mounting for an air conditioner wherein the discharge deck and filter define the entire top of the indoor portion of the unit.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a front inlet grille mounting with a minimum of mounting structure while providing a tight fit with respect to other indoor section structures.